We are looking for good Used railcar movers, Rail King, Trackmobile or Shuttlewagon. We will look at lease returns or trade-in units, in any condition.

Our website is not a broker style, we are the buyers and direct retailer for the equipment shown on our used equipment page. Our expectation is to buy machines, repair as needed, rebuild or remanufacture as requested and offer good value for your budget. If you are looking for a used machine, we have a few units in stock, some haven’t made it on the website, and if in demand, may not make it at all.

Often online you will see machine listed as claimed Remanufactured or Rebuilt railcar movers, don’t be fooled by a plain used machine. Customers can easily be swayed by a machine that has been rebuilt or remanufactured because they feel the machine has been fixed, or upgraded to the point that they will not need to expect repairs when the unit arrives at their location. It should be ready to work! Regardless when past rebuild or repairs happened, this should have be completed currently, one -five-ten years ago does not count. Here is what I view as the level of condition or what qualifies as rebuilt or remanufactured:

Used – Seller is not going to repair or rebuild the machine, it is sold like it sits, in an as is condition. This typically is the case on units that are at the end of their life with a particular customer they don’t want to spend the money to fix it or the operation cost is too high for their liking. The machine is going to be worn out, damaged, have leaks, need engine work, whatever…. Just be aware that it is not expected to be 100%. This is the lowest cost level of used machines, often from owner direct or a dealer trade-in. Unlikely has warranty. Buyer Beware, inspect the machine personally.

Qualified – The unit has been inspected and all issues have been repaired. This machine should work 100%. It does not mean that the engine/transmission have been rebuilt, it just means it runs when you start it. Smoke or rough shifting could still be a problem, hydraulics may not be the best but it all works. Dealers should at least sell at this level to end users. If the unit comes with warranty it is likely a 30-60-90days on parts or something on the lighter side. Buyer Beware, inspect the machine personally.

Rebuilt – A claim of a rebuilt machine is at least this, some dealers have higher expectations:

Entire machine is inspected and all faults are repaired

Engine and Transmission have been rebuilt or replaced with remanufactured components. Painting does not count as rebuilding, and unlikely to see the 4-53 without leaks even after rebuild.

Axles have been disassembled and inspected, seals and questionable parts are replaced when out of tolerance.

New brakes, tires and rail wheels (when needed) all around

Cab interior has been cleaned and seats repaired, controls all function and all gauges are working. No wires hanging, no insulation falling out, no pliers holding the parking brake cable.

Hydraulic system has no leaks, or weeping cylinders.

Everything should work very well.

Painting the machine is optional but if is done, should be sandblasted and primed and new decals installed from the original manufacturer

There is likely a warranty tied to the drivetrain and some sellers offer it on the machine for a short time.

Remanufactured – This is a tough claim, and most used machines do not have this completed, unless the machine is worth the treatment and the market will hold its value. Remanufacturing a machine is very labour intensive and uses lots of shop space. Here is a quick summary of what happens, often the list is pages long:

Unit is entirely stripped to the frame, in pieces, all apart, nothing is together.

We find that good training is an up front cost many managers would like to avoid. Not only does it involve a dollar cost, but also man hours while the personnel is in class. The long term cost savings is probably worth more than the lost man hours or the training day cost. With the rail car mover operators move heavy iron with a lighter railcar mover, it is important that they know what they are dealing with. Unnecessary brake wear, axle failures, tire wear, derailing are all signs that operator’s may need refresh training, for safety and reduce operation costs. Sometimes showing the operators new tricks or time saving tips, they would enjoy the job more, and that means productivity.

We have revamped the entire training program for the Rail King product line, and we suggest you check out our programs for operators, including remote controls. We focus on the railcar mover specifically as that is the unit your operation and maintenance dollars are affected by, and it is our specialty. Contact Catherine or Harry today!

This is a simple question that people in the market for any equipment should ask themselves.

The challenge with most used equipment is the history is unknown, even with “service documentation”. The possibility of a specific missing occurrence in the reports that would sway your decision on a machine, for instance “by the way this machine was in an accident” or “our operators are cowboys” and our favourite “our company doesn’t use train air because it takes too long”. The other problem with the used market, especially in rail car movers, is the lack of used machines in the size and age you would like to have.

When someone is offering a great 5TM or 9TM (or similar units) at a lower cost, it is likely because:
A) It was built in or prior to the 70’s and has been depreciated by more than one company over it’s potentially 40+ years.
B) It is costing our company too much to maintain, let’s offload it and buy something newer.
C) We have outgrown this machine and our operators would like to have the newer machines with the standard features like train air for safety.
D) We like the machine size, but man it is going to cost $100K plus to rebuild it. And we still have the old machine.

We find that several online broker style companies are selling these old machines for a premium even offering some warranties. There are lots of “rebuilt” or “re-manufactured” machines, but who did the work, and was it really a good machine to spend that money on in the first place? It is just a good paint job? Who is offering the warranty and how do you know it will be honoured?

This is a 9TM Trackmobile, Would you believe it had over 40,000 hours, and rebuilt four times? Sold for $65,000 as is!!!Hour meter read 6,450hours and it ran, Customer knew nothing of the history.

We have lots of customers who ask for a used machine but then comment:
– There is nothing in my budget so I will settle for a $40,000 to $80,000 machine and hope I get my money’s worth.
– Can you give me a warranty on that used machine, what happens when it goes down?
– Our factory is growing so we need a bigger unit, but we don’t want to increase our operation cost.

Some Other questions you can ask are:
1) Why are you not looking at a new machine with a lease or even lease maintained package? Sure a new machine can push the $300,000 or up to $400,000 mark, but you can lease it off the books, over several years, and knowing there is a limited used market the machine will maintain its value. To support this theory, look for anything in the 2005 and newer age bracket online, and I expect you might find some scarce lease returns. But look at their values, and remind yourself this machine is only 5-6 years old, and in comparison it has quite low hours, and it probably only had one previous owner.
2) How can I be sure my purchase is a Good deal (avoid Cognitive Dissonance)? -The new machines have true warranties from the manufacturer, in which the machine will have near zero hours on it when you get it and can keep true records of your maintenance and repairs. With warranty your operation costs are lower, and there are far less unexpected repair bills. We also find that clients with new machines the operators typically respect them, especially when they are moved out of the real old machines.
3) Is my new machine purchase going to SAVE money for the company? With a much lower operating cost and minimal repairs for the first few years, the fixed payments are much easier to manage than buying that $80,000 machine and still repairing it for $15,000 to $20,000 per year on top of the budgeted maintenance.

H. Broer Equipment has an aftermarket man-down system or safety control device for mobile railcar movers called OASIS. It stands for Operator Attention Safety Interaction System, and it is designed to work on the Rail King, Trackmobile and Shuttlewagon mobile rail car movers.

The system was originally designed to be installed into New or Used railcar movers like the Rail King, Trackmobile and Shuttlewagon, for the Alberta Rail Safety requirements. The system is engineered with FRA rules in mind and is integrated with the machine train air brakes, independent brakes, and parking brakes. It uses the operators manual brake controls and a push button to reset the timer on the alarms and subsequent activation of the safety shutdowns. The system also has a tie-in for the remote controls features to disable the system when remote controls are operational.

The system is field install ready, and comes with complete installation instructions.
Contact Marcel Broer for more details – Phone (855) 773 3100 or marcel@hbi.on.ca

Alberta Railway Act – Industrial Railway Regulation
9 Safety control equipment
9.1 Rail car movers must be equipped with a safety control device
that, as a minimum, initiates a pneumatic brake application and
removes all tractive effort in the event that the person operating the
rail car mover becomes inattentive or incapacitated.
9.2 Rail car movers that are in Alberta on or before January 1,
2011 must be equipped with a safety control system by January 1,
2015.
9.3 Rail car movers that are brought into Alberta after January 1,
2011 must be equipped with a safety control system.